Driver assistance systems as a rule require sensors in order to sense obstacles and identify an open area in the vehicle's surroundings. Stereo cameras that encompass two horizontally offset cameras are used, inter alia, for this. The result of this disposition is that objects are observed in horizontally offset fashion in the camera images as well; the offset, or so-called “disparity,” becomes smaller for remote objects and larger for objects in the close-in region, with reference to the cameras. For each object, its distance from the observer (i.e. in this case the stereo camera) can consequently be identified from the disparity.
German Published Patent Application No. 2009 003 110 discloses a method for identifying the disparities of the two camera images (the so-called “disparity map”).
European Published Patent Application No. 2 136 333 discloses a method for identifying a travelable region and for recognizing obstacles from the disparity map.